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Grumman TBF Avenger
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===Royal Navy=== [[File:Grumman Avenger AS.5 XB355 CU396 744 Sq.jpg|thumb|Royal Navy Grumman Avenger AS.4 XB355 'CU 396' of 744 Squadron at Blackbushe in 1955]] The Avenger was also used by the [[Royal Navy]]'s [[Fleet Air Arm]] (FAA), where it was initially known as the "[[Tarpon]]". Initial test flights were carried out by British Admiralty test pilot [[Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner]] at [[RAF Boscombe Down]]. However, this name was later discontinued and the Avenger name used instead, as part of the process of the FAA universally adopting the U.S. Navy's names for American naval aircraft. The first 402 aircraft were known as Avenger Mk I, 334 TBM-1s from Grumman were called the Avenger Mk II, and 334 TBM-3 were designated the Mk III. An interesting kill by a Royal Navy Avenger was the destruction of a [[V-1 flying bomb]] on 9 July 1944. The much faster V-1 was overtaking the Avenger when the Telegraphist Air Gunner in the dorsal turret, [[Leading Seaman|Leading Airman]] Fred Shirmer, fired at it from {{convert|700|yd|m}}. For this achievement, Shirmer was [[Mentioned in Dispatches]], later being awarded the [[Distinguished Service Medal (United Kingdom)|DSM]] for the 1945 [[Operation Meridian]] action at [[Palembang]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/rollofhonour/TAG/Honours_TAGsindex.html |title=List of all Telegraphist Air Gunners (TAGs) receiving honours and awards whilst serving with front line squadrons, 1939β1945 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924014002/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/rollofhonour/TAG/Honours_TAGsindex.html |archive-date=24 September 2015 |website=Fleet Air Arm Archive|url-status=usurped}}</ref> In the January 1945 British carrier raid on the Soengei Gerong oil refinery during Operation Meridian, an FAA Avenger shot down a [[Nakajima Ki-44]] "Tojo" in low level combat over the jungle.<ref>{{cite book|last=Iredale|first=W.|title=The Kamikaze Hunters|year=2015|page=211|publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780230768192}}</ref> Three Avengers were modified to carry the [[Bouncing bomb|Highball]] "bouncing bomb" (given the new codename Tammany Hall), but when trials were unsuccessful, they were returned to standard configuration and passed to the Royal Navy.<ref>{{cite book | title = Bouncing-Bomb Man: the Science of Sir Barnes Wallis | first = Iain | last = Murray | publisher = Haynes | year = 2009 | page=117 | isbn = 978-1-84425-588-7}}</ref> One hundred USN TBM-3Es were supplied to the FAA in 1953 under the US [[Mutual Defense Assistance Program]]. The aircraft were shipped from [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], Virginia, many aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier {{HMS|Perseus|R51|6}}. The Avengers were fitted with British equipment by [[Scottish Aviation]] and delivered as the Avenger AS.4 to several FAA squadrons including No. 767, 814, 815, 820 and 824. The aircraft were replaced from 1954 by [[Fairey Gannet]]s and were passed to squadrons of the [[Royal Naval Reserve|Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]] including Nos. 1841 and 1844 until the RNVR Air Branch was disbanded in 1957. The survivors were transferred to the French Navy in 1957β1958.
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